Five Games That Will Help Nintendo Dominate 2012

Nintendo's decision to cut the price of its 3DS- from $249.99 to $169.99- appears to have paid off. Recent calls to GameStops around the New York Metropolitan area revealed quite a few sellouts, while Japan reports207,000 to 215,000 systems sold in one week.If the company continues like this, and the upcoming holiday lineup looks promising, Nintendo will have much to celebrate in 2011 and beyond.Speaking of which, things have slowly fallen into place, and we have a much better idea of what 2012 will be like for the dual screen system. Suffice to say, the big N could easily retain its handheld crown.Of course, it'll need some huge games to succeed, and from the looks of things, the calendar has quite a few promising titles.With this in mind, we present the five games that'll help Nintendo rule the New Year.

Animal Crossing 3DS

Providing it makes a 2012 debut, and there's little reason to say it won't, Animal Crossing will sell like proverbial hot cakes for one simple reason: the first portable game in the series, Wild World for DS, sold in excess of 10.8 million copies.

Bottom line, you can't bet against that number, despite the fact that the franchise essentially boils down to performing the same tasks; curse you, Tom Nook. At least Animal Crossing 3DS casts you as the mayor of a small town. We're curious to see what that entails.

Resident Evil Revelations

Residentevil:the mercenariese 3D

is a fun action game that probably sold respectably well this summer, but let's face it, that title pales in comparison to Revelations, a full featured survival horror romp that fills in the gaps between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. Not only does it look incredible (easily the prettiest 3DS title to date), but fans want to see what happens in the longstanding story involving Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine.

Paper Mario 3DS

Little is known about Mario's latest RPG, but the Paper Mario series is both well respected and successful, easily surpassing four million units across three critically acclaimed smash hits. We dig the art style, the tried and true timed battle system and come on, it's Mario. Putting his mustachioed mug on a box generates big sales.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Snake's Cold War adventure sold in excess of 3.96 million copies on PlayStation 2 alone while picking up numerous awards along the way. Longtime MGS fans will pick up the game and a 3DS to re-experience this Konami classic, while newcomers will thoroughly enjoy the stealth-based play. Both parties will appreciate the gyroscope controls, 3D effects and photo based camouflage feature.